Camden Town ex-fiance of socialite Tamara Ecclestone accused of blackmail over sex secrets

The former fiance of Tamara Ecclestone is accused of blackmailing the socialite (pictured). Picture: Paul Bennett

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Socialite Tamara Ecclestone was the victim of a £200,000 blackmail plot after her former fiance from Camden Town threatened to sell “intimate secrets” about their sex life to a tabloid newspaper, a court heard.

Derek Rose, of Arlington Road, had been engaged to the daughter of billionaire Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone when she was 17.

But 10 years after their spilt the 33-year-old allegedly persuaded media studies student Jakir Uddin to email the heiress’ agent demanding cash for his silence, Southwark Crown Court heard today.

Jurors heard that student Udin, posing as the agent of Miss Ecclestone’s former fiance, wrote an email claiming the pair had been approached by a red top newspaper with a “life-changing” offer to spill the details of his sexual relationship with her.

Prosecutor William Boyce QC said the email was “timed to perfection” to coincide with Ms Ecclestone’s appearance on Channel 5 reality TV show Billion $$$Girl, a series about her luxury lifestyle which aired in November 2011.

Mr Boyce said: “In the email, using Mr Uddin, who pretended he was his ‘representative’, they were effectively saying ‘give us £200,000 or we’ll sell intimate secrets to a tabloid newspaper’.”

The barrister said the teenage Miss Ecclestone, now aged 28, had originally dumped Rose after he sold a lurid story about her private life to the Mail on Sunday for £10,000 in 2002.

Rose has changed his name by deed poll from Jonathan Ketterman,

Rose and Udin, who lives in Old Walsall Road in Birmingham, both deny blackmail.

The trial continues.

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